Prabowo to Issue Two Orders on Elephant and National Park Rescue
Jakarta — Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni has revealed outcomes from a limited meeting with President Prabowo Subianto at the State Palace on Thursday, 12 March 2026, focused on sustainable forests and elephant conservation.
“First, the President is preparing a Presidential Instruction and a Presidential Decision. The first instruction concerns rescuing Sumatran and Borneo elephant populations and habitats. The second involves a task force for innovative financing in managing our national parks,” Raja Juli stated.
The General Secretary of the Solidarity Party of Indonesia noted that he has met extensively with international and domestic conservation activists, who have appreciated Prabowo’s commitment to wildlife and national park protection.
Regarding the Presidential Instruction on saving Sumatran elephant populations and habitats, there are 42 recorded pockets or original elephant habitats. Currently only 21 remain, prompting the President to mandate intervention against habitat degradation. “Without serious government intervention, the deterioration of these elephant pockets is inevitable, and therefore it is entirely possible that elephants, which are a protected species and an iconic fauna of Indonesia, could become extinct,” Raja Juli warned.
The Presidential Instruction will direct relevant ministers to assist the Forestry Ministry in rescuing elephant populations. For example, on plantation land use concessions already issued for palm oil development in Sumatra, preservation areas will be established — zones that enable elephant corridors between habitat pockets, allowing elephants to move from one pocket to another. “This is critically important,” Raja Juli explained.
Additionally, the Forestry Ministry will create corridors to expand elephant range within their habitats whilst preventing inbreeding. President Prabowo will also issue a Presidential Decision establishing a Task Force for innovative financing and management of national parks. According to Raja Juli, Indonesia currently manages 57 national parks with minimal funding. “These are not profit centres in the sense of generating revenue from ecotourism and reinvesting those funds to improve our national parks,” he noted.